FPL sued over program aimed at saving energy

Customers report problems after their roofs were painted to reflect sunlight

December 31, 2010|By Julie Patel, Sun Sentinel

Florida Power & Light reimbursed contractors to paint thousands of homeowners' asphalt shingle roofs white to reflect sunlight – against the advice of the federal government and major roofing manufacturers.

For the past few years, the utility has provided the rebates as one of its programs to lower customers' electricity use and bills. FPL customers paid roughly $180 million annually in recent years for the programs with proceeds from conservation charges on their electricity bills, and of that, millions went to coating more than 4,000 asphalt shingle roofs.

About a dozen FPL customers have complained to state regulators that their roofs started to deteriorate or leak after they were coated. Five others in South Florida filed a lawsuit against FPL and a contractor who painted their roofs. Others have complained directly to the utility or contractor, according to court records.

FPL spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said the utility is not responsible for its contractors' work. Customers hire the contractors and the utility pays a rebate to the contractor, who then takes the rebate off the homeowners' bill.

"FPL has been conducting a thorough investigation of these claims. However, as a matter of policy, we cannot comment further on ongoing litigation," Anderson wrote in an email.

The state's largest utility, like all Florida utilities, is under pressure from state regulators to encourage homeowners to conserve energy. Each year, FPL is allowed to charge customers to pay for conservation measures, one of which has been roof painting.

Yet, painting shingle roofs has never been recommended or approved by the federal Department of Energy. A spokeswoman for the department said it promotes painting metal and tile roofs to save energy, but not asphalt shingles. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association, which represents 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers of asphalt-based roofing products, warns against applying a stretchy, reflective paint called elastomeric to asphalt shingles.

"Problems reported after asphalt shingle roofs have been field coated include unsightly curling and/or cupping of the shingles, which may lead to premature failure and leaks," the group wrote in a techinical bulletin. The paint can trap moisture and make the shingles rot, the association said.

Elastomeric paint is on FPL's list of approved products, according to a deposition in the Hialeah homeowners' lawsuit.

State building codes bar contractors from using elastometric on asphalt shingle roofs in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, said Andrew Trailor, an attorney representing the Hialeah homeowners.

FPL promoted the program to customers online, and some of the contractors distributed handouts about the program. It's one of more than eight FPL programs designed to lower homeowners' electricity use and bills.

FPL reported in court documents that its partnering contractors coated 4,711 asphalt shingle roofs, including 1,358 in Broward County, 2,354 in Miami-Dade County and 12 in Palm Beach County, from 2007 to 2009. An FPL spokeswoman said she does not know how much the utility spent to coat the roofs over the past few years.

In 2009, the utility went from paying the full cost of coating to rebating 50 cents per square foot of roof over air-conditioned rooms. Based on that figure, FPL would have spent $2.4 million on the 4,700 roofs if they were 1,000 square feet on average.

FPL paid the full cost of coating the roofs of the five Hialeah homes. The contractor was Douglass Roofing in Hollywood, which folded this year.

Guy Giberson, an attorney for Douglass Roofing, said complaints about leaks make up a small fraction of the thousands of roofs that have been painted, and there is no evidence that the paint was responsible for the roof damage.

Giberson said the building code applies to elastomeric coating "systems," which includes other layers of material as well as paint. He said the code applies to new roofs, not existing roofs.

The five homeowners learned of FPL's "reflective roof" program from a Douglass sales representative who came to their homes. Their roofs were coated in 2007 and started leaking within eight months, Trailor said. All but one of the roofs were replaced after Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, making them a few years old when painted.

Argentino Serrano said the roof paint trapped water in the shingles, causing the nails to rust and water to seep in. Brown and yellow water marks stretch across the ceiling in his family room, with ridges of peeling popcorn paint over cracked drywall. Coffee-colored blotches stain the ceiling in another room.

Serrano, a retired airline mechanic, was surprised by the leaks because his roof was about 2 years old when the shingles were painted. The roof was supposed to last at least 20 years.

A can of tar sits in his backyard, ready in case he needs to make quick fixes after a storm. "All the time people say, 'Your house is beautiful.' One day it started leaking. and it's [ruined]. You feel so bad," Serrano said.